Preheat the oven to 400
degrees. The oven should be piping hot
before you start cooking the pizza.

Fast Pizza
Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400
degrees. The oven should be piping
hot before you start cooking the pizza.

Prepare the crust.
Remove the unbaked crust from the
packaging. Place it on a round baking
sheet or a rectangular baking sheet,
depending on what you have on hand. Use
a pastry brush to spread a thin coating
of olive oil over the top of the crust.

Spread pizza sauce on the
crust. How much pizza sauce you add
is purely a matter of personal
preference. If you love a lot of sauce,
go ahead and slather it on. If you
prefer your pizza on the dry side, spoon
a little in the middle and spread it
around in a thin layer.

If you want to make a white pizza,
add a little extra olive oil and
skip the pizza sauce.

You can make a quick pizza sauce
using tomato paste, a can of diced
tomatoes, and some spices. Simmer
the paste and tomatoes (without
draining them first) together over
low heat. Add salt, oregano and
pepper to taste. Continue simmering
until the sauce cooks down to the
consistency of pizza sauce.

Add toppings. Layer
your favorite toppings over the sauce.
Add as many or as few toppings as you
want. Put the heavier toppings, like
onions, chicken or sausage, on the
bottom layer, and add lighter toppings,
like spinach leaves or peppers, on the
top layer. Continue until your pizza is
loaded with the amount of toppings you
like.

Aside from pepperoni, which is
pre-cooked, meat toppings should
always be cooked before you put them
on the pizza. They'll get reheated
when you bake the pizza, but they
won't fully cook. If you're using
ground beef, sausage, chicken, or
another meat, brown it thoroughly on
the stove and drain the grease
before you add it to your pizza.

Remember that if you add too many
vegetable toppings, your pizza's
crust might turn out a little soggy.
The water from the vegetables
moistens the dough. Limit the amount
of spinach and other "watery"
vegetables you put on your pizza if
you're worried about this happening.

Add the cheese.
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the
toppings. Layer it on thick if you like
it that way, or add a thin layer if
you're going for a lighter pizza.

Cook the pizza. Place
the pizza in the oven for about 20
minutes, or until the crust is golden
brown and the cheese is melted and
bubbly. Remove it from the oven and
allow it to cool for a few minutes
before slicing.

Making Pizza from
Scratch

Proof the yeast.
Place the warm water in a large mixing
bowl. Pour the yeast onto the water and
let it sit until it dissolves. After a
few minutes the yeast mixture should
begin to bubble.

Add the other dough
ingredients. Put the flour, olive
oil, sugar, and salt in the mixing bowl
with the yeast mixture. Use the dough
hook attachment on your stand mixture or
work by hand to stir the ingredients
together until a wet dough forms. Keep
mixing the dough until it becomes smooth
and elastic.

If you're working by hand, the dough
will become difficult to stir when
it starts to thicken. Put down the
spoon and knead the dough until it
reaches the right texture.

If the dough looks wet after you've
been mixing or kneading it for a
long time, add some flour to thicken
it up.

Let the dough rise.
Form it into a ball and place it in a
clean mixing bowl coated with a little
olive oil. Put a drape a dish cloth or
plastic wrap over the bowl and place it
in a warm part of the kitchen. Let the
dough sit and rise until it has doubled
in size, which should take about 2
hours.

You can let the dough rise in the
refrigerator instead. This takes
about 6 - 8 hours.

You can also freeze the dough before
it rises and let it rise when you're
ready to make pizza.

Preheat the oven to 425
degrees. Do this well before you're
ready to bake the pizza, so the oven has
plenty of time to get quite hot. If your
oven tends to run cool, turn the
temperature up to 450 degrees.

If you're using a baking stone or
pizza stone, place it in the oven so
it gets preheated as well.

If you're using a baking sheet,
place it in the oven at this time.

Form the crusts.
Divide the dough into two equal parts
and shape them each into balls. On a
floured work surface, roll out the first
ball of dough into a circular shape, or
use your fingers to stretch it out and
shape it. If you're feeling ambitious,
you could also try tossing the dough to
form it into a pizza shape. When you're
finished with the first crust, make the
second.

Get the crusts ready to
bake. Use a pastry brush to spread a
thin coating of olive oil over the tops
of the crusts.

Topping the pizzas.
Spread homemade pizza sauce (or sauce
from a jar) onto the crusts. Layer on
your favorite toppings, making sure not
to go overboard or the crusts won't get
crisp. Finish by sprinkling on your
favorite type of cheese.

Bake the pizzas one at a
time. Carefully remove the baking
sheet or stone from the oven and
sprinkle it with some cornmeal (or reach
into the oven to sprinkle it on).
Transfer the pizza to the baking stone
or sheet, and place it back in the oven.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the
crust is golden and the cheese is
bubbly. Repeat with the second pizza.

If you're using a baking peel,
transfer the pizza directly from the
peel to the stone in the oven.
Baking peels are used by
professional pizza bakers along with
baking stones. The unbaked pizza is
assembled on the peel, then
transferred to the stone in the
oven.

Popular Pizza
Toppings and Combinations

Classic loaded pizza.
This type of pizza has a traditional
tomato pizza sauce and is loaded with
meat, vegetables and cheese. Each piece
is practically a meal in and of itself.
You'll need the following ingredients:

Sliced mushrooms of
any kind

Sliced red and green
bell peppers

Sliced onions

Sliced black olives

Sliced pepperonis

Sausage pieces

Diced ham

Mozzarella cheese

Vegetarian white pizza.
This elegant pizza is a delicious choice
for anyone, whether or not you're a meat
eater. Since vegetables tend to make the
dough moist, skip the tomato sauce and
slather the top of the pizza with some
extra olive oil before adding the
toppings. Choose from these ingredients:

Spinach leaves

Chopped kale

Sliced beets

Roasted garlic

Green olives

Goat cheese

Fresh mozzarella
slices

Hawaiian pizza. This
type of pizza is beloved by some and
hated by others because of its strange
but interesting ingredients list. If
you're a fan of sweet and salty
toppings, Hawaiian pizza can't be beat.
Gather these ingredients:

Pineapple chunks

Caramelized
onions

Grilled ham
slices or Canadian bacon slices

Mozzarella cheese

Fresh tomato basil pizza.
This light, summery pizza topping
combination is a great choice when
you're looking for something simple.
Make it with or without tomato sauce.
Here's what you need: